A fresh wave of homicides rocked Guadalajara last week, following on the heels of a similar rash of murders last month.

While it is easy to write off the incidents as being the result of an internal power struggle within the Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) cartel and/or between distinct cartels, their sheer number is hard to take lightly.

The most grisly evidence of the recent killings was the pile of eight mutilated corpses discovered at 7 a.m. in the trailer of a large red RAM pickup truck, abandoned on calle Ruiseñor between calles Perdiz and Codorniz, Colonia Morelos, less than 30 minutes south of the Guadalajara cathedral on foot. The victims, all men, were between 25 and 35 years of age.

Another eight people were victims of gun violence in the same general period, bringing the total to 16 fatalities in less than 24 hours.

In Tlajomulco at noon, four people were riddled with bullets in a house located in the Los Encinos subdivision.One of the four managed to survive his wounds and at press time was interned in a hospital in critical condition.